The attorney representing a Westmoreland County man charged with using a dating app to arrange a meeting with a fictitious 15-year-old girl in 2021 in Cranberry Township told the jury Monday that his client was entrapped.

Mark Garris, 47, of Derry, is facing felony charges of unlawful contact with a minor, criminal use of a communication facility, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a person under 16 years old and a related count of conspiracy.

The state attorney general’s office filed the charges after agents said Garris arrived at the arranged meeting place, a dental office parking lot, on Nov. 4 to meet the girl, who was an undercover special agent, after they began exchanging text messages in late October.

His trial began Monday in Butler County Common Pleas Court.

In his opening statement Garris’ attorney, Al Lindsay of Butler, said that he will attempt to prove the tactics used in the case created a substantial risk for a person, who would not otherwise commit a crime, to commit a crime.

“A person entrapped can’t be convicted even if they committed a crime,” Lindsay said.

He said Garris contacted a person on an adult dating app who had a profile identifying her as a 19-year-old female.

“These agents are preying on human weakness,” Lindsay said. “There was clear entrapment here.”

He referred to the agent who ran the undercover operation as a “skilled manipulator.”

Deputy Attorney General Angela Raver told the jury that an undercover agent pretended to be a juvenile on the app to catch people seeking to exploit minors.

The special agent, Duane Tabak, testified that he created a profile of a 19-year-old woman who used the handle Princess JoJo in a proactive, undercover chat investigation and used that identity in texts he exchanged with Garris.

He said he couldn’t create a profile for a minor because the app displays the age of the person who created the profile. The photo he posted with the profile was that of a female special agent when she was 14 years old. That agent also testified.

Tabak said the first text he received from Garris came on Oct. 22, and he responded several days later.

After exchanging a few texts, Tabak said he sent messages saying “JoJo” lied about her age and she was only 15 years old, but Garris kept communicating.

He said Garris eventually indicated that he wanted to engage in sex acts with the girl.

Each of the reported texts sent by Garris and Tabak were read aloud, and a printed copy was entered as evidence. Tabak said he called Garris “mister” in his texts.

Tabak seems to encourage Garris in several messages by saying; “I want to make mister happy,” and “I am excited.”

Tabak said he tries to get suspects to ask his fictitious persona for her age, makes sure they know she is a minor and tries to get them to say what they want to do with her. He said he stops communicating when the other person says his fictitious minor is too young.

“I’m not here to induce people into anything,” Tabak said. Hundreds of people have stopped talking to him, blocked his fictitious profile or reported him to law enforcement.

He said Garris initiated contact every time they exchanged messages.

They agreed to meet Nov. 4 in the parking lot of a dental office in Cranberry Township, Tabak said.

Several agents were waiting near the lot and arrested Garris after he drove around the lot and left, according to testimony.

Another agent, who submitted written testimony, said Garris drove past his surveillance position twice before he entered the lot.

Garris consented to allow the agents to search his pickup truck and agreed to have his interview with agents recorded. The 30-minute recording was played for the jury.

In the recording, Garris tells the agents that girl he intended to meet told him that she was 15. He said he waited in a nearby parking lot for 30 to 45 minutes thinking about whether he should proceed to the meeting.

The trial resumes Tuesday before Judge Kelley Streib.